I'll take the rain
by IloveWilson
Summary: House falls into coma and is about to die, when DEATH himself appears and offers Cuddy and Wilson to play a game for House's life. They have to pass several dangerous "tests" to save their friend... Huddy-ish
1. Pale As Death

Chapter 1- As Pale As Death

„Coffee?"  
He didn't get a response.  
„Cuddy.", Wilson said, his voice even softer now. This time she seemed to have heard it and slowly raised her head, trying to clear her mind. A pair of swollen and red eyes looked back at Wilson, who gently handed her one of the two cups of coffee he had just got.  
„Thank you.", she whispered and took a sip.  
„Are you sure you don't want to get some hours of sleep?"  
„I'm fine."  
„You know what happened isn't your fault-„  
„I know." She slowly nodded, taking another sip of the hot coffee.  
Wilson fell silent. He turned his head to look at the hospital bed next to them where House was laying.  
„He will wake up again.", Wilson tried to reassure Cuddy and himself, „ He will wake up from the coma. We just have to give it time…"  
Cuddy nodded weakly, her mind was wandering again, back to this afternoon, back to when it had happened. She was sick of fighting against it, so she just let the memories come into her head once more.  
House entering her office, House acting really weird, House collapsing… and now House in a coma. And Wilson telling her all this stuff. About House hallucinating, House seeing Amber, House thinking he slept with Cuddy. With her. House had hallucinated sex with her.  
Cuddy blinked as the pictures of House's face this afternoon came back. She had never seen him like that before. Never. So hurt. So fragile. So… disappointed?  
A moment later the dean of medicine noticed that Wilson was watching her. The worried look on his face told her that he knew pretty well that she was thinking about it, living this afternoon again and again in her thoughts, like a video. Her head automatically pushed „play", the images came, it ended with House collapsing and falling into a coma. Then „rewind" and „play" again. And again. „Rewind" „Play."  
Suddenly a loud „beep" disrupted the silence. It jolted Cuddy, who dropped her coffee. Wilson jumped up, looking at the monitor next to House's bed in panic. „Ventricular fibrillation!"  
Cuddy got up as well, her face getting ever paler. „We need help in here!", she shouted. Nurses came running quickly with a crash cart, while House's heart had stopped beating.  
Wilson's heart in contrary was beating fast, almost too fast, as he reached for the defibrillators. He tried to calm himself down, the next minutes mattered. His hands were sweating. Cuddy was watching him, her own heart almost exploding as well.  
Almost in trance Wilson put the defibrillators on the chest of his best friend and started to shock him. Cuddy was looking from Wilson and House to the monitor and back again. Nothing happened. Wilson shocked him again. The monitor didn't change. And again. Nothing.  
Cuddy's heart was beating faster and she hold her breath for a moment, her eyes piercing the monitor.  
„House, please!!", she found herself screaming, her own voice sounding strange to her.  
Wilson shocked his friend again. „Come on, House!", he whispered.  
„Maybe we should announce time of death…", one of the nurses carefully said. She was right, too much time had passed now and the chance that House's heart would start beating again was heading towards zero.  
„No!", Wilson and Cuddy said almost simultaniously. They weren't ready to give up. They weren't ready to loose their friend, their emotions were blocking the medical facts.  
The nurse quickly shut up again and stepped back.  
„He is dead".  
Wilson stopped shocking House and turned around to look where the voice was coming from. Cuddy turned around as well.  
A man was standing near the door, dressed completely in white.  
„Get out of here!", Cuddy said.  
„I have to take him with me.", the man pointed at House.  
„Oh you won't" Cuddy stepped in his way.  
„Cuddy.." Wilson murmured.  
„Yes?"  
„Look at the nurses." Wilson had noticed that they weren't moving anymore. They were standing there like statues, frozen as if they weren't human beings.  
„Oh my god…what…"  
Cuddy blinked. Was her mind playing tricks on her? Wilson gazed at them. Was he now hallucinating as well? Was this even real?  
„This is very real, .", the man in white said and approached him, passing Cuddy who still couldn't believe what her eyes were showing her.  
„Who are you?", Wilson asked.  
„I'm Death and I'm going to make you two an offer…"


	2. Ease Of Mind

Chapter 2- Ease Of Mind

„I'm DEATH and I'm going to make you two an offer."  
Cuddy stared at him, not knowing what to think. After some seconds she seemed to pull herself together though, turning around and facing Wilson. „Don't stop! It has only been 3 minutes, there's still a chance-„  
„I'm your only chance." The stranger's voice was sharp and cold as ice. They didn't just hear it, they could actually feel it.  
Wilson and Cuddy wanted to look at House and ignore the man in white, but some strange inner urge always made them turn their heads at the stranger, his white eyes almost hypnotizing them. Like marionettes they turned away from House and looked at the white man. There was something about him that caught them, didn't let them go anymore.  
The nurses were still frozen, standing there like painted stone, looking so human and yet not breathing or moving anymore.  
„I am your only chance.", the stranger slowly repeated, his words feeling cold on Cuddy's and Wilson's skin as he spoke.  
„Who are you…?" Wilson asked, his voice not more than a whisper, weakened by the terror of the last minutes and the powerful presence of this stranger.  
„I'm DEATH. I take the dead with me and yet I can't kill. I have always existed and will always exist, yet I can't see the future. I see people's emotions, their fear, their hatred, their joy, only their feeling of love is invisible to my eyes. At times I'm good, at times I'm evil."  
Wilson and Cuddy already seemed to be under his spell. They listened without interrupting him altough every word he said caused a short freezing pain on their skin.  
„Guilt", he then said and walked towards Cuddy, who didn't move away. Wilson watched him walking around her in a circle. „I see guilt." He stopped and his stunning white eyes looked at Cuddy. She didn't back away, although a part of her was screaming to do so. She felt sedated, suddenly completely calm, her heart beating normal, maybe even a little slower than usually. Her mind was clear, which was a miracle per se, seeing as it should be filled with so many thoughts concerning House and what had just happened to him.  
DEATH then turned towards Wilson. As soon as the distance between Cuddy and him grew bigger, she felt how the thoughts about House and the whole situation were coming back into her head, how the ease of mind slowly faded.  
„Despair.", he said, facing Wilson. „That's good. Desperate people tend to agree to do something stupid faster than others."  
Now Wilson was the one to feel the immense ease of mind and for a short moment he found himself liking it, it seemed to be better than the pain. At the same time he wanted it to go away, knowing it was DEATH that caused this feeling inside him and that was a thought he didn't like at all.  
„Now that we know each other", DEATH started to say, „ let's proceed to business. I'm asking you to play a game with me."  
„You are asking us…?", Wilson repeated a little puzzled. If this was really DEATH, why wouldn't he just force them to play his games?  
„I have no powers to manipulate people's free will nor can I force them to do what I say. It is your decision alone.", DEATH slowly replied, „ It's going to be a dangerous game and you have to undergo several tests, but if you pass them, I won't take your friend with me."  
„He will be alive?", Cuddy faced the stranger, „ He will live?"  
DEATH nodded. „It's not in my power to revive people I already guided to the lands of the dead. But him I haven't taken with me yet."  
„Why would you give us that chance? Do we have to promise you our souls or something like that?", Wilson asked distrustfully. The whole situation still seemed like a dream to him.  
„I don't deal in souls. Souls aren't worth anything to me. I do this simply for my entertainment."  
Wilson and Cuddy looked at each other, not knowing what to think. Were they both delusional?  
„What do you mean with ‚dangerous' ?", Cuddy carefully asked after a while.  
„That you could die."  
Shock appeared on the doctors' faces.  
„Didn't you say you can't kill anyone?"  
„I can't kill anyone with my own hands. But in my game people die."  
„And.. what are those tests you were talking about like?" Wilson took a look at House, who seemed to be in a peaceful sleep. Only that his heart wasn't beating anymore.  
„I'm not giving any information about them. They are dangerous, that's all you need to know."  
Cuddy and Wilson didn't seem to be very content with this answer. They had no idea what would be waiting for them if they agreed. After all it was DEATH who wanted to play with them. He was planning to use them for his own entertainment and probably enjoyed to see them fighting for their own lifes. On the other hand they had just gotten a chance to save the life of their best friend. Could they even say no just because they were scared? Was it fair? Did House want to live? Or would he prefer to be dead anyways?  
Too many thoughts. Too many emotions.  
„I want an answer now.", DEAtH slowly said and watched them.  
„You are saying we should risk our lives for House and your entertainment?", Wilson quietly asked.  
„That's what I'm saying. Now make the decision that will change your lives."


	3. Sapphire Blue Sky

„Yes."

Cuddy looked at Wilson. „Yes?"

The oncologist slowly nodded. „Yes, I'll do it… House was willing to risk his life to save Amber's. I'm going to do it."

Cuddy quietly turned her head to look at House. He was pale, but he looked as if he was just sleeping."I'm in as well.", her voice wasn't more than a whisper, „ I already feel guilty, I can't take anymore. If I don't try it, I'll always wonder what would have happened if I did."

DEATH seemed to be content and a small grin appeared on his face. „So be it." And with a short wave of his hand Wilson and Cuddy slumped to the ground, the world around them turning dark.

…

He blinked. Everything was blurry. Bright colors. Way too bright. He blinked again, his eye lids feeling heavy. He took a deep breath, air filled his lungs, but it felt unusually weird. It didn't actually feel as if he needed to breath. Which was weird as well.

After some minutes he finally managed to keep his eyes open, they were getting adjusted to the brightness around him. What was he lying on? It felt soft. A carpet?

He slowly turned his head. Some strange white material. He thought it was icky. For a moment he kept lying there on this white thing which was everywhere and looked up at the sky. Damn, never in his whole life had he seen such a sapphire blue sky.

„Do you like it?", a voice asked and forced House to turn his head again to look who had spoken to him. It was a man he didn't know, dressed completely in white.

„Pretty cheesy. Even for the afterlife.", House replied and sat up, „ Don't tell me this white icky thing I have been lying on is a cloud."

„Actually it is. Most people like it."

„Most people are stupid."

„Get up. You don't need your cane to walk."

House eyed the stranger suspiciously. He had no idea what was going on. Probably some really weird dream – or just another hallucination?

„So… I take it you are god and you healed my leg?" House got up and noticed that he didn't feel any pain in his leg. Definitely a plus.

The man in white smirked. „I'm DEATH."

„Not so good, I guess." House looked around, but there wasn't anything to see. Just the blue sky and the white „cloud" he was standing on.

„At this point most people fall to their knees and beg me to let them live."

House faced him again. „Sorry to disappoint you then."

„Do you want to be dead?" DEATH looked at him with shrewd eyes and for a moment House was silent.

„It doesn't matter.", he then said a little bit more quiet than before.

DEATH approached him.

„What are you doing?", House watched him.

„I'm reading your feelings."

House sighed. „Playing the shrink?"

DEATH ignored his comment. „Hm…I see pain."

„Of course.", House murmured, „ that's my leg, I don't own a cane because limping looks cool."

„No you can't feel any physical pain right now. This isn't your body. This is just your soul. Your body is still lying in a hospital bed in the Princeton- Plainsboro teaching hospital."

„That's where I died? Nice.", House still tried to figure out what had happened before he woke up here.

DEATH kept looking at him without speaking. His face didn't show what he was thinking.

„So what are you doing here? Don't you have to, you know, go get other people?"

„Time is standing still.", DEATH simply replied.

House looked at him unbelieving.

„I froze time."

House didn't reply to this. Instead he turned around and started to walk away.

„Where do you think you are going?"

„Looking for cable TV, or I'm a supposed to just sit around here and meditate at this cheesy place forevermore?"

„There's something you might want to see."

House turned around. DEATH's voice suddenly had a scary and threatening undertone he didn't like at all.

„What is it..?"

DEATH moved his hand and a big TV appeared in front of them.

„Nice…", House murmured, still suspicious as he slowly walked closer.

„I invite you to watch a game with me." DEATH grinned and sat down in front of the big TV.

„A game…?" House suddenly got a bad feeling. What the hell was going on?

„Yes, a game." DEATH turned the TV on. The picture of a hospital room appeared. Someone was lying in the bed. House didn't need to take a closer look, it was obviously him. He glanced at the monitors. „No heartbeat…"

At the next minute, the picture changed again. This time the hospital bed was empty and the nurses were gone as well. Two people were lying unconscious on the ground. Cuddy and Wilson.

House felt panic coming up inside him and DEATH noticed it as well. „So you care about them?"

„What did you do to them? What's going on?" House stared at the screen. Was this just another hallucination? He didn't know what was real anymore and what wasn't. Could he even trust his eyes?

He suppressed his confusing thoughts when he saw that Wilson started to move. House watched him as he felt Cuddy's pulse and tried to wake her.

„Dr. Wilson.", DEATH clearly said to the TV. House watched his friend. He seemed to have heard it, because he raised his head and looked around confused, not knowing where the voice was coming from.

„Dr. Wilson, you and the other doctor just have to get out of the hospital alive. That's your first test.", DEATH slowly said and Wilson nodded after hearing DEATH's voice, even though he couldn't see him.

„Wilson!", House shouted at the TV, „ Can you hear me?"

No reaction.

„Wilson?!", House tried again. Still no reaction.

„He can't hear you.", DEATH said to House.

„What's going on??"

„They're trying to save you."

„What… Wilson! Cuddy?!", House tried to speak to them again, but it was pointless. They couldn't hear him.

DEATH leaned back and grinned. „This sure as death is going to be interesting."


End file.
